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Japanese public broadcaster NHK is organising a series of screenings and talks on ultrahigh-definition 8K video at MIPCOM 2019 as part of the showcase “Live the Story: NHK 8K”.

To stage the ultra-HD showcase, MIPCOM is for the first time hosting the NHK 8K Theater, complete with a 248-inch 8K screen and a 22.2 multichannel sound system, located on the third floor of the Palais des Festivals. The screenings will feature the international premiere of a dramatisation of Nobel Laureate Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel An Artist of the Floating World in 8K HDR (high dynamic range), a medium ideally suited to bringing the nuances of the artist’s world into sharp focus. Japanese actor Ken Watanabe will be on hand to share his experience of playing the lead role. The special event will be on Monday 14, from 11am to 1pm and include a Q&A and a networking lunch with actor Ken Watanabe, scriptwriter Yuki Fujimoto and director Kazutaka Watanabe.

Another highlight will be "NHK’s 8K Talks" sessions involving international producers who have partnered with NHK, plus the opportunity to see the resulting 8K content. These sessions will highlight the transformation of 8K production, which until recently has been seen as requiring huge commitments of equipment and money. The sessions will turn the spotlight on 8K production in China, in music and art, one of the first genres to use 8K, and in natural history and science, an area ripe to enter a golden age thanks to ultrahigh definition. NHK launched the world’s first 8K channel in 2018. The public broadcaster plans to broadcast the 2020 Olympic Games from Tokyo in 8K, in an historic first."8K Talks: Co-Pro and Acquisition" will be on the same Monday from 4.30pm to 5.30pm about how Japanese pubcaster has it secured content, and what is the potential for international 8K co-productions and acquisitions in different territories and different genres. Moderated by AndrewEborn, writer and producer, and SayumiHorie, Executive Producer, Global Content Development Division, NHK (Japan), speakers will be Guo Haojun, Technical Director, Beijing TV Station (China), Amos Rozenberg, CEO, Paramax Films (France), Atsushi Murayama, Chief of Secretariat for 8K Productions and Takeshi Shibasaki, Senior Producer, Science Programs Division, both from NHK (Japan).

The cocktail "Waves of 8K Sound" (by invitation only) will see “Sting & Shaggy: Live in Philadelphia” also on Monday since 5.30 to 7.15pm, and the following day, Tuesday 15, the last panel will be "8K Talks: Natural History" from 11.30am to 12.30pm with Brad Bestelink, Filmmaker, Natural History Film Unit (Botswana), Alastair Fothergill, Company Director, Silverback Films (UK), Masahiro Hayakawa, Executive Producer, Natural History & Science Programs, NHK Enterprises, Inc.

Yukinori Kida, NHK’s Executive Director of Broadcasting, said: '8K has mostly gained attention for the exceptional quality of its images and sound. By working with international creators, I have come to believe that 8K HDR is a tool for enhancing viewers’ sensory and emotional perception. It offers a new way of storytelling — one that creates the ultimate immersive viewing experience'.